The plot has been covered by others so just a few comments. I think the script was nicely written and accomplished two things very well. The four jailbirds all get enough dialogue and screen time to establish themselves as individual characters. It was smart to have only Littlejohn with Saunders. Any more squad members would have cut into that time for the guest stars.
The second great thing was Saunders is only 50% successful in getting these jailbirds to see the light. Any other script would have had Lennon (John Considine) leaped up and rush into the final fight to kill a few Germans and save some of our guys. You could see it coming when the scenes cut to him listening to the gunfire as he sat doing nothing. Yet, it didn't happen. Kudos to the writer, Ed Lasko, for that. Take a look at that guy's credits. He did some serious writing. The other non-redeemer was Kline (Bill Bixby). He was a con artist at the start and a con artist at the end. Well, even Sgt Saunders can't win them all.
As always with Combat, the acting is superb. The guest stars make the show and all four come through here. Considine and Billy Gray are still alive at this writing. Bixby died way too young. He was a fine director as well as an actor. Michael Caffey's direction is works well and the action scenes are excellent. Caffey directed the previous episode and did 12 episodes in all. I can see why. He gets it done. He also has a long list of TV credits.
My one complaint is a common one for season 5. There is a blood bath of German casualties. The Americans suffered one man wounded and kill a couple of dozen Germans. Not too realistic.
Still a great episode upgraded by being in color. Highly recommended.
The second great thing was Saunders is only 50% successful in getting these jailbirds to see the light. Any other script would have had Lennon (John Considine) leaped up and rush into the final fight to kill a few Germans and save some of our guys. You could see it coming when the scenes cut to him listening to the gunfire as he sat doing nothing. Yet, it didn't happen. Kudos to the writer, Ed Lasko, for that. Take a look at that guy's credits. He did some serious writing. The other non-redeemer was Kline (Bill Bixby). He was a con artist at the start and a con artist at the end. Well, even Sgt Saunders can't win them all.
As always with Combat, the acting is superb. The guest stars make the show and all four come through here. Considine and Billy Gray are still alive at this writing. Bixby died way too young. He was a fine director as well as an actor. Michael Caffey's direction is works well and the action scenes are excellent. Caffey directed the previous episode and did 12 episodes in all. I can see why. He gets it done. He also has a long list of TV credits.
My one complaint is a common one for season 5. There is a blood bath of German casualties. The Americans suffered one man wounded and kill a couple of dozen Germans. Not too realistic.
Still a great episode upgraded by being in color. Highly recommended.